Vertebrae Become Bones of Contention

What remains of Elisha Nims--a bit of spine still holding the French musket ball that killed him--is a bone of contention more than 250 years after he died near here outside an English outpost.

Some local historians wanted to rebury Nims’ bones on Memorial Day in a historic cemetery. But those plans were called off when others balked at burying an Englishman alongside Revolutionary War veterans on a day of remembrance for America’s war dead.

Now no one is quite sure what to do with what’s left of Nims, a French and Indian War casualty.

“I have no clue, but we will have a meeting soon to discuss it,” said Daniel Connerton, chairman of the North Adams Historical Commission.

He had supported plans by Jean Vincent, a library trustee and curator of the city’s historical collection, to ceremonially bury the vertebrae complete with the musket ball.

“It is the remains of a human being,” said Vincent, who has not allowed the bones and bullet to be placed on display.

“We could bury him on Veterans Day,” said Mayor John Barrett, who agreed to cancel the Memorial Day burial in hopes of “keeping peace in the family.”

The burial plans prompted complaints from some who say the Englishman’s remains have no place among those of American soldiers.

“It’s absolutely foolish and totally inappropriate to put him in with American soldiers. Mr. Nims was an English settler when the United States of America was not even a twinkle in anyone’s eye,” said Paul Marino, a local historian.

He wants Nims’ descendants contacted and the bones sent to the Army Pathological Institute for DNA testing to confirm their identity. He also wants a cast made of the damaged spine and the musket ball preserved.

“The bullet could be the gem of the North Adams historical collection if it could be documented,” he said. “Then the bones could be reinterred in Deerfield with the Nims family looking on.”

Susan Oathout of Gloversville, N.Y., who is married to an eighth-generation descendant of Nims’ brother Moses, said she previously viewed the spine fragment more as a piece of history than a relative’s remains.

However, she said, “It would be nice to have an appropriate, dignified resting place. I think that would be more important than where and when.”

Oathout, who acts as historian of the Deerfield-based Nims Family Assn., said she could understand concerns that the remains not be buried as though they belonged to an American soldier. She added, though, “When we think of Americans, we think of people who came here for one reason or another.”

According to local histories, 26-year-old Nims was mortally wounded in June 1745 during a raid by French and Indian forces on Ft. Massachusetts, established by British colonial authorities to protect the settlers here.

The stockade fell during the raid and was burned. More than 30 settlers, including women and children, were taken captive. About half survived a forced march to Canada and eventually were ransomed.

Nims’ original grave and headstone were discovered in 1852. A.L. Perry, a professor at nearby Williams College, unearthed the skeleton and cut out the portion of spine bearing the bullet.

Eventually he gave the remains and the headstone to the local historical society. Over the years the remainder of the skeleton and headstone have disappeared, along with the little graveyard where Nims was originally buried.

The site where Ft. Massachusetts once stood is now a supermarket parking lot.

“Our best guess is his original grave is now under the Fortune Garden Chinese Restaurant,” Marino said.

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On the Net:

North Adams Historical Society:

https://www.northadams.com/history